In the field of camping and other temporary living accommodations, it has long been a goal to provide equipment that is lightweight and which occupies a minimum amount of space to maximize its portability to and from the camp site. This goal is particularly true for cooking grills. Conventional cooking grills, such as those found in public parks, are generally heavy, being commonly fashioned from cast iron or the like. Such grills also typically comprise an upright or vertical support post secured in the ground with a grill horizontally supported therefrom. Often, the grill is positioned at average waist height so that the cook need not bend over to tend the food.
Portable cooking grills are often of similar design, usually providing a vertical support post with the grill supported off of one side so that a fire may be built beneath the grill. Since the support post and grill are at right angles to each other in all common versions of such grills, and since such orientation occupies a large volume relative to the total mass of the grill assembly, the grill itself is often designed to be removably mounted upon the support post. In a typical set-up procedure, the post is driven into the ground at the camp fire site by hammering the top of the post and the grill is then attached to the post.
Among the known portable cooking stove designs is the one illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 750,742 which depicts a stake or post having a threaded cap on the upper end thereof, a sleeve screwed on the lower end of the post and a pointed wooden peg driven into the sleeve. One or more circular shelves having a concentric hole therethrough may be removably mounted on the stake through the hole, and the shelves may be enclosed with a cylindrical wall to form an oven. The stove is positioned upright by hammering on the threaded cap to drive the wooden peg into the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 2,523,200 illustrates a removable fireplace grill having a tubular, telescoping support member with pointed ends for mounting within a corner of a conventional fireplace. A rotatable grill mounted offcenter on the support member may be swung into and out of the fireplace.
A portable grill of the type described with a support post having a grill detachably mounted thereon for suspension over a fire is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,953. In this case, the grill is attached to a sleeve around the post and is free to rotate around the post as well as up and down. The grill is secured by a set screw in the sleeve that bears against the post. The post of this patent has a protective cap at the top. A very similar design is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,539, except that the sleeve has a handle and the set screw itself is also provided with a handle. The post has a cap with hooks for holding utensils. The cap appears to be on when the post is driven into place.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,692 is of a similar type as that of U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,953, except that the former has a locking ring to secure the position of the sleeve, where the locking ring surrounds the post and travels on the upright member along with the sleeve. Illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,312 is yet another grill of similar design where the vertical height adjustment is made by a bight that slides into slots on the support post where the bight is secured by a lock that slides over the post. The outdoor cook grill of U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,898 is also of similar design, except that the grill is removably mounted on the post by means of rod-like hanger supports on the post and a chain that suspends the grill over the fire.
While all of these portable cooking grills accomplish the basic task of providing a grill which may be quickly disassembled into a compact arrangement for easy transportation, they all have the disadvantage of having support posts with a top end that is vulnerable to damage when the post is driven into the ground. It will be appreciated unless the post is made from exceptionally hard materials, which might make its cost and or weight unacceptably high, that the top end of the post quickly becomes flattened and deformed after repeated blows with a hardened hammer or axe head. Such damage may occur in only one set-up operation if the ground is hard. While the posts of the grills of U.S. Pat. Nos. 750,742; 2,977,953 and 4,538,589 are provided with caps, the caps themselves may be damaged in like fashion, thereby hampering any other function that the cap may have.
It would thus be advantageous if a portable cooking grill assembly would be devised whereby damage to the support post would be minimized. Obviously, an advantage to the portable grill is that it is often reused. However, five of the grills discussed could be irreparably damaged if the top of the post were deformed since the sleeve upon which the grill is mounted would be prevented or at the least inhibited from being removed from or placed over the top of the post.